Oyos Saroso H.N.,

The Jakarta Post, Bandarlampung | Sat, 03/20/2010

 A large-scale oil palm plantation company has been caught hoarding a large amount of subsidized fertilizer that small-scale farmers in the province are in short supply of.

Farmers of the Andalan National Farming Community (KTNA) in Mesuji, Lampung, said they had found at least 200 tons of subsidized fertilizer being transported to the a plantation, owned by PT Bangun Tata Lampung Asri (BTLA), every fertilizing period.

Councilor Dedi Aprizal from the Lampung Legislative Council said he had received complaints from
the farmers.

“I was initially shown photographs [of the hoard] by Mesuji KTNA manager. When I went to the plantation, I saw a large volume of subsidized fertilizer ready to be used,” he said recently.

“It’s ironic. The farmers are the ones who are entitled to the fertilizers while the ferlilizers are scarce on the market,” he said.

A shortage of fertilizer over the last two months has caused prices to soar.

Dedi said the company aknowledged that they used subsidized fertilizers but were ignorant of the ruling that big companies were forbidden from using them.

The council is scheduled to hold an inquiry session over the issue by summoning managers from PT Pusri and BTLA’s subsidiary company CV Bumi Waras.

Palembang-based PT Pusri produces the fertilizers.

Bumi Waras has been blamed for storing the fertilizers in its warehouse in Way Lunik, before transporting them to BTLA.

Sutisna, an official of PT Pusri of Lampung office, said the distribution to BTLA was in line with procedure and that his company could not be held responsible for the irregularity.

“We obtained the fertilizers from confiscations, or damaged fertilizer, which can not be distributed to farmers. The fertilizer would have been sold to farmers, but it was spoilt by rain so it was no good for crops,” Sutisna said.

“We have all the supporting documents,” he added.

Based on standard operational procedures, said Sutisna, the spoilt fertilizer should not go to the farmers because it could harm the crops.

He added that damage to the fertilizer usually occurred during transportation from the warehouse to the location of the recipients of subsidized fertilizer.

CV Bumi Waras managing director Abeng said his company had bought the urea fertilizer, produced by PT Pusri Palembang officially from the Lampung branch PT Pusri.

“We obtained it after winning a tender. The volume is not just 200 tons, but up to 350 tons,” he said.
Based on observations, subsidized fertilizer fraud has become rampant over the past five years, but police have detained no one despite overwhelming evidence.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/

Adianto P. Simamora,

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 04/14/2010

The forestry ministry dropped its controversial initiative to classify oil palm plantations as forests after strong protests from environmental activists on fears that it would speed up deforestation.

The statement was made by the ministry’s head of research and development Tachrir Fathoni on the sidelines of a seminar on Indonesian forestry following the Copenhagen climate talks.

“We have dropped it. No more talk about it,” he told reporters on Tuesday.

He said the ministry acknowledged that any changes on forest definitions should be made by amending the 1999 forest law.

The law defines forest as an integrated ecosystem in the form of land comprising biological resources, dominated by trees in natural forms and surrounding environment, and which cannot be separated from each other.

The same statement was also made by Nur Masripatin, the ministry’s director of the center for social economics and policy research.

“Indonesia will not include palm plantations as part of forest although some countries have done it,” she said on the sideline of seminar.

Malaysia, the second largest producer of palm oil after Indonesia, uses the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) standard to identify forest — which is land with tree crown cover of more than 10 percent and an area of more than 0.5 hectares with trees reaching a  minimum height of five meters.

The forestry ministry planned to draft a ministerial decree to include oil palm plantations as forest after the Copenhagen meeting.

But a group of activists from  Greenpeace Indonesia and the Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi) criticized the government over its plans accusing the authorities of not being serious on promises to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Greenpeace Indonesia then put a giant banner at the ministry of forestry building reading “plantations are not forests”.

Greenpeace said inclusion of ‘plantations’ in the definition of forests, would lead to massive concealment of emissions from the destruction of peat land and forests.

On Tuesday, Walhi welcomed the decision from the government to drop the plan.

“The ministry’s decision to not include plantations in forest is correct, the most important thing now is the ministry should exclude the industrial forest concessions (HTI) as part of the forest,” Walhi’s forest campaign director, Teguh Surya.

HTI usually carries monoculture plants like acacia for paper mills.

He said that the ministry should also audit the existing oil palm plantations which converted forest areas without permits.

“Forestry Minister [Zulkilfli Hasan] should gather the courage to withdraw the licenses of oil palm plantations operating in forest areas,” he said.

The Agriculture Ministry earlier said it planned to use 1.8 million hectares of land designated as industrial forests (HTI) for oil palm plantations.

Agriculture Minister Suswono said that of 9.7 million hectares of land available for oil palm plantation, some 7.9 million hectares was already developed, leaving 1.8 million hectares designated as HTI.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 04/21/2010

Major producers of palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia say they may disregard the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) if the international forum insists on raising the threshold on the principles and criteria for certification of mills and plantations.

Indonesian producers have even moved further teaming up with government to establish a domestic forum in a bid to create principles and criteria that are compatible with conditions specific to the country.

RSPO is currently reviewing the certification criteria and may adopt new provisions, which  may be deemed too restrictive by most producers in developing countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia.

A working group under RSPO said the new certification criteria should include routine monitoring of carbon intensity standards in all palm oil plantations.

All palm oil plantation areas, the working group proposes, must produce no more than 35 tons of carbon per hectare and cannot be allowed to be established on peat lands.

The working group is scheduled to meet with all and any stakeholders in Kuching, Malaysia, in May, to decide on these revisions.

Joko Supriyono, the secretary-general for the Indonesian Palm Oil Producers’ Association (Gapki), said six palm oil associations from both countries had agreed to reject the above amendments to the certification process.

“The existing certification process, which includes nine principles and 139 criteria for CPO certification, has already caused many difficulties for the industry … they cost so much and consume so much time, usually a year,” Joko said.

Joko said there were now only three Indonesian palm oil firms that  could pass the certification process.
Palm oil producers, Joko said, only controlled about 30 percent of the voting rights in the palm oil forum while the rest were controlled by NGOs, big buyers, and banks.

“We will lose in the voting process … if the forum disregards our concerns, we will walk out and refuse to use our right to vote,” he said.

Deputy Agriculture Minister Bayu Khrisnamurti said Indonesia would soon have its own roundtable on sustainable palm oil. The ministry, he said, is currently working with the office of the coordinating economic minister to draft the provisions necessary for establishing the local forum.

Bayu said the domestic roundtable would be a response to unfair proceedings in RSPO, which had been heavily influenced by European perspectives.

“Some RSPO members are inconsistent. Take Unilever, it did not consult the forum when it made its decision based on reports from NGOs, instead they panicked,“ he said referring to the decision by the world’s biggest palm oil buyer to terminate  all deals with Indonesian company, Sinar Mas, due to environmental concerns put forward by NGOs.

Indonesia is the biggest producer of palm oil, having contributed 44.5 percent to the world’s total output of 42.9 million tons in 2008, while Malaysia was the second biggest, having contributed 41 percent.

As from 2015, the entire group of European Union member states will only import CPO from companies whose production is certified by  RSPO. (rch)

http://www.thejakartapost.com/

17 May 2010

“Poor farmers borrow money at a branch of the Social Policy Bank in central Phu Yen Province. The Viet Nam Farmers Association wants to assist its members access bank loans.”

HA NOI — The Viet Nam Farmers Association has asked the Government to allow it to act as a middleman between banks and farmers to help farmers access credit more easily.

The association made the proposal at a meeting in Ha Noi last week to review the implementation of a preferential loan programme for farmers, instituted in April 2009 pursuant to Prime Minister's Decision No 497/QD-TTg.

The programme was set up to give farmers interest-free loans to buy farm equipment and loans subsidised at 4-per-cent interest to buy fertilisers, pesticides and construction materials.

Decision No 2213/QD-TTg, issued in December, expanded the programme to include loans for additional purposes at an interest rate of 2 per cent.

However, complex procedures had rendered the programme less effective than it had been expected, said association vice president Nguyen Duy Luong.

It was difficult for farmers to document spending plans and produce certificates of land-use rights in order to qualify for loans under the programme, Luong said, and the one-year repayment terms had also proven impracticable.

Many farmers had already pledged their certificates of land-use rights as collateral for other loans and could no longer produce them for other banks, agreed Le Van Banh, director of the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta Rice Research Institute.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Cam Tu said that local authorities should work with the association and other agencies to inform farmers about the preferential loans and help them qualify.

Meanwhile, he said, the Government would address suggestions to ease loan qualifications and lengthen loan terms to two or three years.

According to the State Bank of Viet Nam, just over a million farmers had borrowed VND776 billion (US$40.8 million) under the programme through December of last year, accounting for just 0.22 per cent of preferential loans issued under last year's subsidised-interest loan programme. Another VND146.95 billion ($7.7 million) was lent to 6,424 farmers in the first four months of this year, the bank announced. — VNS

http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/

Feeding a high income population

Saturday April 24, 2010, The Star

AT YOUR SERVICE
By DATUK MOHD MOKHTAR ISMAIL
Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Ministry secretary-general

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

High purchasing power and a better quality of life will lead to higher expectations on the part of consumers, including a wider range of food.

THE Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry is in the midst of drafting a new policy for the agro food sector as the Third National Agriculture Policy will terminate in 2010.

This new policy will cover the period between 2011 and 2020, which is a critical time when Malaysia plans to achieve an advanced high-income economy.

The success of this policy will determine whether Malaysia will be food-secure or highly dependent on imports for our daily meals, taking into consideration the demands of a high income population.

Increasing our dependency on imported food is not a sustainable long-term strategy. The vulnerability of the country’s food supply has increased as shown by the impact of recent increases in oil prices, input prices and global food prices on our domestic supply and prices of food items.

In the future, we can expect global demand for food to continue to increase as a result of population growth and increased income.

Current estimates by the Food and Agri­culture Organi­sa­tion (FAO) project that there is a need to increase global food production by 70% by the year 2050 to sustain food demand.

However, the world is faced with many constraints to produce more food as arable land for agriculture and water is becoming increasingly scarce.

There are also new emerging issues and challenges such as disease outbreaks, high energy prices, competitive use of food for biofuel and climate change which have a direct negative impact on food production.

The formulation of a new agriculture policy in a high income economy will also be affected by demand-side considerations.

In 2020, we envisage that the population will have high purchasing power and a better quality of life.

Naturally, this will lead to higher expectations on the part of consumers. They expect safe and quality food; they want variety in the food they consume; they are knowledgeable, health-conscious and are highly concerned about what they eat and how food is produced.

In a high income economy, discerning consumers will opt to choose food which offers better nutrition and will have the purchasing power to select from a diversified diet.

The problem of malnutrition, particularly the “hidden hunger” caused by missing micronutrients due to the consumption of food low in nutritional content and variation, will be a problem of the past.

In light of increasingly sophisticated consumer demand, as well as the need to reduce dependency on imported food, what then should be the policy implications for local food producers?

The policy framework over the next 10 years is to create value based on consumers’ need for quality, safety, nutrition, functionality and environmental sustainability.

Under­pinning all this is the necessity to increase productivity and competitiveness of food production in the country leveraging on innovation-based growth.

Food safety and quality must start from where food itself starts – at farms.

To achieve this, the Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry has introduced farm accreditation schemes to ensure that farmers adopt good farming practices, including soil and water management, judicious use of fertilisers and pesticides, waste disposal and proper post handling.

These practices include Good Agricultural Practices, Good Hygiene Practices and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point systems. As the demand for safe food increases, we can expect more and more farmers to adopt these accredited schemes.

However, food safety does not end on farms. A “whole chain traceability” mechanism has to be adopted to improve food safety and to ensure consumer confidence in food labelling. Food traceability has to be enhanced in the coming years.

Traceability along the supply chain from farm to table requires close collaboration among various government ministries, namely the Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry, Health Ministry which enforces the Food Act, Domestic Trade, Coopera­tives and Consu­merism Ministry as well as food producers and those who process them.

The production of quality products to meet the demands of consumers in a competitive environment requires the supply chain to be short and efficient so that fresh produce can speedily reach consumers.

Discerning consumers with high disposable incomes will pay premium prices for freshness in the food they consume.

Sophisticated consumers are equally concerned about food production and its effect on the environment. Research and development on green technology has to be intensified.

Consumer demand will ensure a viable market for organic products, biodegradable packaging materials, energy-efficient farming and processing machinery as well as products which utilise agricultural by-products.

The wealth of crop diversity in Malaysia and its potential to deliver improved nutrition and better health can be developed to provide consumers with greater choice in local produce.

A wider range of improved local varieties of rice, fruits, vegetables and herbs can provide high income consumers with the variety they demand.

In the final analysis, food producers must embrace change and produce safe and high quality food at competitive prices.

The private sector must play a dominant role to ensure domestic food production remains competitive in a globalised world. Under such a situation, it will be the small farmers who will need the most support to transform their production processes and practices in order to meet consumer and market demands.

The new Agro-food Policy will address these concerns and put in place the necessary policy support to ensure domestic food production remains viable and sustainable in a competitive business environment.

Source: http://thestar.com.my/

13 May 2010

HA NOI — Imports of agricultural products and fruit and vegetables in April reached US$1.5 billion, lifting the total value for the first four months of this year to $5 billion – 80 per cent more than for the same period in 2009.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development reported that the cost of rubber and cotton imports alone were worth $202 million and $208 million – twice that of last year.

Meanwhile, 636,000 tonnes of wheat was imported in the first four months of this year, worth $155 million – up 61 per cent compared to last year.

Fruit and vegetable imports were worth $80 million – up 127 per cent compared with the same period last year.

Economist Nguyen Tat Thang, from the Institute for Trade Studies and Research, partly attributed the increase to reduced tax rates between Southeast Asian countries and China, in line with new trade agreements.

Le Ba Lich, chairman of the Viet Nam Animal Feed Association, said he was shocked by the figures.

"It's ironic that Viet Nam has to import everything, even though it is largely an agricultural producer."

Nguyen Van Ky, general secretary of the Viet Nam Fruits and Vegetable Association, said the Government should address the issue.

"Importing fruits that we cannot grow is fine but it is ridiculous that we have to import fruits that are available in Viet Nam such as oranges and mangoes."

Thang added that he thought that the trade imbalance would continue for at least five to 10 years.

He said that domestic producers should invest in new technology to make their products more competitive. — VNS

.

— VNS

http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/

13 May 2010

Envoy promotes Thai trade ties

BANGKOK — Vietnamese Ambassador to Thailand Ngo Duc Thang has paid a working visit to the northern provinces of Nan and Chiang Rai to boost economic, trade, culture and tourism co-operation between the two Southeast Asian countries.

Thang met provincial governors and officials from trade, agriculture and tourism organisations together with representatives from 10 chambers of commerce.

They discussed bilateral trade and potential future co-operation between Vietnamese and Thai northern provinces.

He also spoke about the East-West Corridor Economic Co-operation Forum scheduled to be held in Viet Nam's central province of Quang Tri in June and a plan to organise two conferences on Viet Nam's economic, trade and investment policies.

The first conference will be held in August in Chiang Mai Province and the other in November in Khon Kaen Province of Thailand.

Nan and Chiang Rai authorities expressed interest in holding cultural exchanges and boosting economic development co-operation with Viet Nam's northern Dien Bien and Phu Tho provinces, particularly in tourism. They said that would be in line with their goal of expanding cultural, economic and trade co-operation with Mekong river nations, including those in the East-West corridor.

hey said they would soon send delegations to visit Viet Nam and attend the East-West corridor Economic Co-operation Forum in Quang Tri Province.

The Vietnamese embassy delegation also made fact-finding tours to Nam Ngan border gate between Nan province and Udomsay province in Laos and several other thai border gates with Myanmar and Laos.

— VNS

http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/

By LV

12 May 2010

Rice production in Laos has risen to 3.2 tonnes per hectare.

(KPL) The rice production over the past five years has made a good progress, that has ensured self-sufficiency for the country.

As a result, the existing market-oriented rice production plan will be further developed from the current annual rice output of 2.8 million tonnes.

The outstanding work was summarised in last week’s meeting on agriculture and forestry works of eight northern provinces held in Oudomsay province on 4-5 May.

Throughout the past five years, the eight northern provinces have carried out a five-year plan on socio-economic development based on the 11 programmes and 111 projects of the government.

While the Agriculture and Forestry Sector has set its action plans according to four goals and 13 measures. Following the implementation, the agricultural and forestry production has recorded an average growth of 3.1% per year, 4-5% growth according to the target, and accounting for 47% of the gross domestic product.

The eight northern provinces were presence at the meeting including Phongsaly, Houaphanh, Xiengkhouang, Luang Prabang, Sayaboury, Bokeo, Luang Namtha and Oudomsay.

They got together to brainstorm the next five-year plan on agriculture and forestry development and assessed the past five-year plan implementation, which was described to be satisfactory with some progress in the production of rice and cash crop, livestock, animal disease prevention and industrial tree plantation. The meeting was presided over by Director of the Planning Department, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Dr. Phuangpalisack Pravongviengkham.

Source: KPL Lao News Agency http://www.kplnet.net/

FSN Forum Discussion

SEACON-We did a study two years ago on livelihoods strategies among small scale rural farmers in Southeast Asia. Basically, we looked at both "on-farm" and "off-farm" activities. And also, examine why these strategies are adopted. By 'on-farm" we mean any activities that relate to farming activities or agriculture-, aquaculture-, or livestock-dependent. "Off-farm" simply means economic activities that do not have direct links to farm activities.

We found that "off-farm" economic activities are extremely important to supplement "on-farm" activities. Some of the common "off-farm" activities that rural people or farmers have been good at is "construction". Some of them are skilled enough to build or repair houses in their village or district where they can earn supplementary income from their fellow villagers who need their services. Some women or family runs sundry shops. Some do rental of car vehicles or transportation. Some families in Cambodia also sell fire-woods. However, I would still categorize selling fire-woods as an "on-farm" activity since it depends on natural resources (forest), also in the case of weaving or handicraft. In Malaysia, however, we also found that rural women can source for nylon strings that are commonly used to secure cartons or boxes, and recycled and weaved them into baskets. So, they don't have to depend on forest products.

Many rural women in Malaysia and Indonesia, for example, have also been actively doing home-based food processing and baking. There are many other examples of "off-farm" economic activities that can be promoted to rural communities, basically by understanding what they have or their existing skills and knowledge.

Economic diversification, therefore, can be "on-farm" and towards "off-farm". "On-farm" diversification means different types of farming activities (crops, livestock, fishery, even making organic fertilizer or vermi-compost), and diversification should also go from "on-farm" economy to "off-farm" economy. Malaysia has good examples of policies or programs that encourages diversification both "on-farm" and towards "off-farm".

Anni Mitin
SEACON, Malaysia

Farmers must cope with Roundup-Resistant Weeds

By William Neuman and Andrew Pollack

Published: May 3, 2010

The New York Times

American farmers’ near-ubiquitous use of the weedkiller Roundup has led to the rapid growth of tenacious new superweeds.

To fight them, many farmers throughout the East, Midwest and South now have to spray fields with more toxic herbicides, pull weeds by hand and return to more labor-intensive methods like regular plowing that used to be the practice 20 years ago.

Read more http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/04/business/energy-environment/04weed.html?emc=tnt&tntemail0=y